| Vague fingering floated through her head. The melody disappeared into the loud ostinato of the bass line. Her breath caught in her throat as she struggled to reach all five notes in her right hand, and she shuddered as an ugly discord sounded. She looked at her right hand and saw that it was pressing down six keys, none of which were written on the score in front of her. Michelle glared at the piano as if her friend�s disappearance was all its fault. �Concentrate Michelle! Chopin would be turning in his grave if he knew what you were doing to his preludes. It�s all there you�re just not working at it.� Michelle looked at her hands. They were cold and felt stiff and unmoveable. She was tired and uninspired. She thought about how Pascal played this piece, with ease and grace and musical expression. She felt her eyes well with tears for the third time that day. �Michelle, Michelle,� said Mr Landau, his lips forming what could only be called a smirk, �We are all missing Pascal, but we must carry on. There is no other choice.� This didn�t help. �Look,� he put his arms around her shoulders and held her to him. His she could feel his chest close to hers, and somehow all the stresses and the strains seemed to melt away in those arms. �Music can do nothing but make things better in times like these. Play something, sing something, put on a record. It can do no harm.� She looked up at him and her heart felt like it was going to explode. He was a very beautiful man, very attractive, but now she felt like she had known him all her life, and that she should know him for the rest of her life. She couldn�t look away from those amazing eyes. She saw the cruelty, but it didn�t surprise her, she saw evilness in his soul, but she didn�t care. Lust no longer ruled. She felt like she was falling in love. He touched the CD player, and a vaguely synthesised stringy instrument began to play a slightly syncopated ostinato. He took her hand, and a bass joined into the music seamlessly, with a drum kit. �There�s such a sad love deep in your eyes.� A voice singing from nowhere. They were slow dancing, close to each other. The ball. She was in a long white dress. Her dreams were coming tree. She rested her head against his chest. �There�s such a cruel heart beating so fast In search of new dreams a love that will last Within your heart, I�ll place the moon Within your heart.� They were together, dancing, where no one could interrupt, no one. Pascal. �Falling in love,� She looked into his face. She loved him. He was looking at the window, smirking, but she didn�t care. A second later his eyes were on her, and he spun her around. �As the World falls down.� A face appeared inside her head, a picture of a girl. Who? She couldn�t think. �Falling,� The face was important. She looked away from her love, confused,� �Falling,� Pascal. �Falling in love As the world falls down,� She couldn�t believe herself. She was here like this, dancing as if everything was the most wonderful thing. Living her fantasy. Where was her friend, what was happening to her? She didn�t know. She stopped and stood for a second in disbelief. Then she ran from the room. She was still in brown, there was no ball. James Landau stood fuming. She took the train home, panicking. She couldn�t cope with this anymore. Jaden glared at his brother, who sat on the windowsill. You can�t tell when birds are smirking, but somehow you knew Jareth was. Then he flew away. �Michelle.� She jumped. Then she was terrified that she didn�t know where she was. She looked to her side. A man was in her room. He was tall, with long blond hair unevenly cut and thin lips. He was wearing make-up, something Michelle didn�t find as surprising as people would expect. She knew his eyes; she had been staring into them today, dancing with them. �I know where she is, Michelle.� �What?� �I know where she is. But we have to go now.� �What?� �My brother is keeping her. He�s been enjoying what he does to you, and to her.� �Who are you?� �I thought you would know that.� He held out a crystal. She looked at it then back to him. �Jareth,� she said. �Pleased to meet you.� Four walls swirled into one, like watercolours in a mixing tray. It spun and washed and swayed and seesawed. Flying. Clouds flew, shooting stars ran above her. Blues and purples mixed, and the wild wind whipped her hair. She clung to the demi-God and her side, his chest close to hers, his golden-blond locks encircling her brown, their eyes locked together and their lips nearly touching. She looked at the crystal, her eyes drawn to it. She saw Pascal. |